Do You Do A "Warm Up" for Your Coffee Break Bible Studies?

In the past, we started each group with a great joke!

In my small group, we usually begin with snacks (yum!) and small talk. Before jumping into the Bible study (which is currently follow-up questions based on the sermon), we take a moment to first check who was able to be at church/listen to the sermon. For those who missed the message, we give a quick overview and usually read the Bible verses that the sermon was based on.  

We have  singing and a share question  before we split into our groups.  Examples:

-which is better the top or bottom of the bun

-the farthest you have lived from "here"

-how old where you when you started wearing make up

-if you owned a restaurant what would your specialty be

-favourite olympic sport to watch.

Hi, I have found that women like to know people from other groups. We have  occasionally used the opening time to build cross group relationships to strengthen the social belonging.  Joseph Meyers, in his book Search to Belong, says that people need different kinds of belonging in order to feel part of something. The different types are intimate (3-4), personal (6-10), social (15-30), Public (50 plus) belonging. We do really well with the personal belonging in Coffee Break small groups. People also need to feel comfortable in the social space, as well.  

There are lots of ways to do that. Here's a couple that I have tried. 

(1) Ask everyone to arrange themselves is big circle by birth dates. Add a fun twist by telling the to do it without talking.  Then, they can ask the person next to them how they like to spend their birthday. Perhaps have a prize ready for pairs who share the same birthday. 

(2) Bingo - Create a bingo card with fun accomplishments or adventures. Send them off to get a bingo. Possible things to put in the squares: Someone who likes camping, Someone who has travelled to more than 4 countries, Someone who has bungee jumped, someone who has completed a quilt, etc. Be sensitive to the special abilities of your group when you create the bingo sqaures.  You could up the belonging quotient by asking for stories.

(3) Find creative ways to pair people up. Give them a set of interview questions so they can learn more about each other. Ask for two or three people to introduce the person they met to the whole group. 

I'd love to hear about how other groups use the opening time!!!